I'm not sure if the results improve further to say 330 skill, but it's definitely tier based with a ceiling around 318 skill that gives you a bonus.

* removing SMN. Earring to get my skill down to 320 flat from 323 resulted in no change in def bonus at +62. * removing Astute cape to get my skill down to 318 from 323 result in no change in def bonus at +62. * removing Astute cape & SMN. Earring to get skill down to 315 from 323 results in a change in def bonus to +57 * removing SMN. Torque to get skill down to 316 from 323 results in a change in def bonus to +57 * Based on Enilanerda's study on BG, noting that the 4tick refresh from diabolos kicks in at 317 skill, and having confirmed there is no bonus at 316, 317 appears to be the magic number.* As the test is conducted alone with my 75 SMN it is difficult to find performance tiers below the 317 mark. I can confirm that at 269 skill *no SMN skill gear* the effect of the avatar favor is 'standard' as in Diabolos' max refresh bonus remains at +3

----- Interesting Aside:Having maxed out Titan's favor, and desummoning him to test other avatars for an extended period (+1hr) resummoning him again immediately gains the user +25 defense bonus of its +57(of 62) cap. This effect is immediate. Duration since he was last summoned appears to have no effect on this 'base' defense bonus upon resummon.

I thought this was a residual effect but having logged out and logged back in and reapplied avatar's favor from scratch, I still got the 25 defense bonus immediately. Therefore, it appears that Titan's favor provides a base def bonus of 25.

Results on the strength of Shiva's favor are underwhelming. With the effects of carby's regen and diabolos's refresh (both hitting equal or greater values to a fully enhanced lucky corsair's roll once past 317 summoning skill), you'd expect the MAB bonus on Shiva to be at least 14-15. Nothing to compare Titan's favor though since Cor has nothing like that.

Very interesting...now I really need to rejoin a dyna shell and get those relic hands and some other +skill gear. My skill has been sitting at 288 (291 if I'm wearing af horn) for who knows how long. Wonder if I should consider meriting summoning magic skill a bit as well...

Results on the strength of Shiva's favor are underwhelming. With the effects of carby's regen and diabolos's refresh (both hitting equal or greater values to a fully enhanced lucky corsair's roll once past 317 summoning skill), you'd expect the MAB bonus on Shiva to be at least 14-15. Nothing to compare Titan's favor though since Cor has nothing like that.

Actually it is correct. BLM roll IS that crappy without BLM bonus. But you rarely see anyone use the roll without a BLM in party.

In fact Diabolos MAB bonus at midnight is just as good as a good COR without BLM in the party for MAB. But again, rare to use MAB roll without a single BLM.

But it sounds good to know that it is possible to hand out 4 MP per tick refresh with the correct armors.

It's a bit sad that we have access to a lot of SMN skill gear but there's concentrated heavily on a few slots (head) (legs) and several other slots (ring) (weapon) (earring) are limited to 1 piece of Rare or R/E gear, while other slots (waist/ammo/grip) don't have any +skill pieces at all.

I'm 6 skill away from 317 w/out having to switch in my SMN. Brcr +1 in place of Nashira gages, so there's a certain calculation now to trade off extra perp over a stronger buff.

As my magic merits are maxed out, I'd have to roll back elemental magic to gain the 6 skill I need. Which is a pain. I really hope SE increases the cap on total merits we can spend in that category...

In a way, these results forces a rethink on how we use our wards as well.

We've grown accustomed to using Rage and Ward interchangeably, but Favor, allows for a purely support summoner or a summoner play style that is primarily support, that then a mixed jobber, and furthermore allows the kind of stamina and staying power in that role that we currently don't have.

Carby's strong aoe regen, its 'free' status (when they fix mitts) plus its ward buffs makes it a particularly potent pet to have out in group situations. Ditto for diabolos.